‘Garlic’ a staple ingredient in many dishes. It is super nutritious and turns bland dishes into a delicious one. This herb-like vegetable has significant benefits to offer. This strong-smelling pungent-tasting herb is rich with a powerful compound called allicin that is a super-healthy addition to the diet. Garlic is low in calories, saturated fat and sodium to maintain a healthy body. On the other hand, it is rich in minerals like phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, zinc, calcium, and iron which makes it a perfect health package to be added in the regular diet.
Best Benefits of Eating Garlic
Here are some of the best benefits that your grab by eating garlic
1. Garlic Medicinal Properties
Garlic has several medicinal uses. From Ayurveda to several home remedies, garlic plays a major role. Ancient history used garlic as a major medicine to treat several issues. Having peeled raw garlic cloves every day can significantly control cholesterol levels, heart problems, and hypertension. It also assists in preventing lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and stomach cancer. Hence, garlic is known to prevent many of the major diseases that are quite common these days.
2. Cures Cold and Cough
Having garlic cloves for just five days in a row can reduce cold and flu symptoms by 70%. Garlic is very efficient in treating cold-cough problems. For the ones who try to avoid medicines for cold-cough can always switch to garlic for help. It is very effective.
3. Boosts Immunity
Garlic cloves are known to effectively boost the immune function. A study revealed that garlic is also effective in killing cancer cells when put together in a test tube. But the health benefits of garlic can only be retained from raw or cooked garlic and not the supplements. For people with low immunity, garlic is a must add on to the diet.
4. Better Hair and Skin
Garlic is rich in anti-oxidants and anti-bacterial properties hence is a boon for healthy skin. Rubbing garlic on your skin can reduce pimples and acne. But one should beware while doing so as rubbing garlic can sometimes cause irritation on the skin. There are several other garlic benefits for skin and hair.
5. Protects Your Food
Since garlic is rich with anti-bacterial properties it effectively guards the food against staling. Adding garlic to your food kills bacteria that cause food poisoning, including salmonella and Ecoli. With a proper and maintained intake of garlic, you will see enormous health benefits of garlic.
6. Boosts Digestion
All of the digestive problems can be cured with garlic. Daily inclusion of raw garlic helps to clear up the digestive tract. It clears up all the intestinal problems like dysentery, diarrhea, and colitis. Garlic is super effective in dispelling worms from our system and releases stomach gas as well.
7. Garlic Helps You Live Longer
Not exactly scientifically proven but garlic helps you live longer. The many health issues that garlic encounters, it assists in increasing the life span of human beings. Infectious diseases are the cause of many deaths and garlic is an effective fighter against all these bacteria's.
How to Use Garlic?
It is best to consume raw to retain the maximum health benefits of garlic. Due to its strong smell and potent taste, people add it in their food and prefer eating it cooked. It can be added in almost all the dishes in your desired quantity. It is healthy as well as it upgrades the taste of your dish. One can chop, slice or even juice it up for desired consumption. Garlic cloves are also one of the main ingredients in many kinds of toothpaste as it helps to prevent tooth cavity and oral bacteria.
Word of Caution
It is advisable to consume only 2-5 garlic cloves in a day. Since it is a strong herb, it can irritate your digestive system and can also cause bad breath.
For hundreds of years, garlic has been used in many dishes worldwide. Mainly people used it as a taste enhancer without knowing its nutritional value. Now, science has also revealed the nutritional value and health benefits of garlic is endless. So if you don’t use garlic at home, start using it today and make yourself healthy.
Side Effects
In maximum cases, garlic intake has been proven to be quite safe. But sometimes eating raw garlic can cause bad breath, burning sensation in mouth or stomach, heartburn, gas nausea, vomiting, body odor, and diarrhea. In some cases, garlic can lower blood pressure.
When applied on the skin, garlic can cause irritation to some people. So it is always advisable to use garlic on the skin with care.
Also Read: Raw Garlic With Water